1) Describe your final project/studies. What have you accomplished over the course of the semester?
This semester I was able to dive deeper into the area of Augmented Reality and it’s uses. Starting with research about various artists and galleries that have already been using the technology. I continued exploring different software and landed on Web-Based AR due to its accessibility and ability to be utilized without the user needing to download any additional applications. In addition to showing my progress at the Illuminating Connections Expo, I was able to put together 4 different AR experiences, three to be viewed in zine format and a fourth in a mixed media wall display.

Video link for the finished project:
Web Based AR DS999 final project – YouTube


2) Describe your overall feelings about the project/studies. Are you happy, content, frustrated, etc with the results?
Overall, I’m happy with the finished project that I was able to create during the timeframe and will be able to add it to my portfolio. It was fun getting to experiment with a process that I want to use in my future career.

3) What were some of the largest hurdles you encountered over the semester and how did you approach these challenges.
The largest challenges I faced were getting used to the technology and learning how to model for a specific platform, as well as experimenting to figure out what would work the best.

4) If you had more time, what would you do next on your project/studies?
If I had more time, I would continue researching different software and learning more about things like room mapping and location-based markers. I might also experiment with the physical form of how the experiences are displayed.

Weekly Accomplishments
This week I’ve been thinking about the final deliverable for this project, I’m working on a multi-page zine with the environment markers and links, with drawings and information about the project. I think this is a good starting point and if I am able to make a couple plaques for wall hangings, I’ll do that as well. Overall, I feel like I’m in a good place to finish out this project.

Challenges
Challenges include thinking about where I’ll get the material printed, for the testing at the exposition I printed them myself, I’m considering pricing of ink vs. the cost of professional printing.

Future Work
Overall, I feel like I got a lot out of this project this semester and will be printing out the zines and finished project by next week.

Weekly Accomplishments:
I displayed my work so far on this project at the Illuminating Connections Expo at the WID building. I was able to receive some good feedback on the AR experiences so far. Out of the 20 people who stopped at my booth only 3 weren’t able to view the experience due to either not having a phone or not understanding instructions. I was also able to gauge interest on a scale from 1-10 per person with an average of 7 interest.

After the exposition I started making some new sketches for where the final project is heading and ideas for my final distribution method.

Challenges:
The main challenge will be figuring out the best way to distribute the experiences for the final project and how to integrate them into the space. Another challenge was some of markers worked better than others, though they were all functional that’s something I’ll be working on for the final project.

Future Work:
This week I’ll be creating the final project, including making changes on the current markers and 3D models and putting together the materials for distribution. Either in zine or plaque form, or both.

Weekly Accomplishments
Over the past two weeks I’ve been working on the prototypes to bring to the Illuminating Connections exhibit. I came up with three concepts called, “Explore”, “Discover”, and “Imagine” with unique markers and QR codes that I’ll have displayed in a binder, with some handouts for people who want to take one home. I also created a poster which should be ready for pick up tomorrow.

Challenges
Mostly my challenges this week have been time-related, but I feel like I’m in a good place to get some feedback on Thursday about where to take this further and to gauge interest level.

Future Work
Next, I’ll be thinking about a non-intrusive way to have the experiences available for students in the WID area, I started making a zine that could be distributed on the tables, or a more attractive sign could be created.

Weekly accomplishments
Continuing from my previous post, I created another prototype for a “tabletop AR experience to inspire creativity” and focused on figuring out the best settings for my materials from blender to the importing process. I also created a custom marker to test out how that works, which I printed out on an 8″x11″ piece of paper. It seems to work better if the QR code is not overlapping the marker. The viewer can also rotate and zoom in on the model using their finger.

Challenges
I feel like I’m getting comfortable with this workflow, which was my main challenge in the beginning. My next challenge will be how this is displayed in the space and solidifying the working title and marker. Another issue will be figuring out of I need to re-orient the models to work if the marker is vertical instead of flat.

Future Work
Next week I’ll be focusing on the display, poster and final form of what I could bring to the April 7th event for testing. I think for the final month of this project following that I’ll be able to see how people responded and make adjustments, since I plan to have a few different experiences for people to view rather than just one.

Weekly accomplishments
Over Spring Break, I was able to get more testing done with a working prototype, from creating an animated 3D model to making it accessible via a link. The idea I decided to move forward with is “tabletop AR experiences to inspire creativity” to focus on the study areas where students normally spend time in the WID building.

This is an example of how it would work and the first prototype I created, it works best when printed out and viewed flat on a table.

This is a screenshot of what it looks like:

Challenges
The challenges so far last week have been determining the scope of what’s realistic to achieve in the timeframe of this project, but I think I found a good balance of what will be feasible and will fulfill the desired accessibility needs.

Future Work
The rest of this week will be used to focus on the aesthetics of the models, and fine tuning the materials and lighting of the models since the first prototype is fairly rough. I would like each study area to have a variety of experiences so the students can get the feeling of exploration and discovery while viewing the works.

Weekly accomplishments
This week I worked on some concepts, continued testing and toured the space at WID to explore potential layouts for the exhibit. The concepts around this piece will be related to the process of discovery. Including themes surrounding creativity, inspiration, experimentation and cycles.

Concept art for ideas in the space abstract these themes meant to be viewed by the students who study in these areas and serve as a source of inspiration & to help spark creativity. This will continue to evolve over the coming weeks as I continue testing.

Weekly challenges
This week’s challenges have been that Reality Composer seems to be the obvious choice for development, but makes the experience limited to iOS devices.
I was able to get a working test from AR.js studio, but the limitation with that platform is the experience can only be viewed while the QR marker is within sight of the viewfinder, whereas with Reality Composer the viewer is not limited from that particular viewpoint.

Future Work
Over spring break I’ll be continuing testing and creating prototypes while planning out the exhibit within the space.

Weekly accomplishments:
This week I was able to run my first test in AR, after doing some troubleshooting with AR.js Studio I determined it would be a good idea to try a test with Reality Composer, and it worked very well. The user interface is relatively seamless and much easier to use, I also received a contact at WID as a venue for this project, which is great news.

This test is an example of one of my abstract 3D sculptures created in Blender, called “Comfort Sculpture”. I was able to test the relative scale to the room and viewer to give me a sense of how it translates from the software to the AR viewer.

Challenges:
Some challenges this week was shifting focus to a different software, what I liked about AR.js Studio was its capability to be used cross-platform, since Reality Composer will be specific to iOS devices.

Future work:
Next week I’ll be focusing on the overall vision, concept and design for the project aesthetics, as well as scheduling a time to tour around WID. The final link technologically will also be publishing it to a linked website that can be scanned via QR codes.